How to use the Resource Library

Peer TA’s library includes a variety of Resources/Reports, Question and Answers, and Innovative Programs. You can filter by each one of these types of resources by clicking on the left.

Resources include Peer TA and other OFA technical assistance event reports and materials and resources from stakeholders with research on the TANF program and low-income families. We also include research from the Self Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse.

Questions and Answers are submitted by TANF stakeholders around the country designed to facilitate the process of information-sharing regarding important topics related to TANF programs and low-income families.

Innovative Programs refer to creative methods of administering the TANF program, imaginative ways that services are provided, or new means of helping TANF participants with multiple barriers. The topic area includes Innovative Programs that have been submitted by other States.

There are two methods to find materials in the Peer TA Library.

Keyword Search

To conduct a keyword search, simply type a title, or keyword into the search box and click on the blue arrow. The number of results and the terms searched will display above the filters on the left hand side of the screen.

Filter Search

Users can also find materials in the Peer TA Library by selecting one filter, or a combination of filters. You can filter the Peer TA Library by topic, subtopic, date, the type of content, geographic area (urban, rural, suburban; ACF region; State/Territory; city/county; Tribe). The number of results and the filter used will display on the top of the left hand navigation bar. If you would like to further refine your search, you can select an additional filter. You can combine as few or as many filters as you would like to search for items in the Peer TA Library.

For further assistance locating materials in the Peer TA library, please contact us at peerta@icfi.com. Finally, if you would like to submit materials for inclusion in the Peer TA Library, please also email us at peerta@icfi.com.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar entitled “Building Social Capital for Families on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Other Low-Income Populations: The Important Role of Community-Based and Faith-Based Organizations” on Wednesday, November 28, 2018 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET.

These tables provide information about adults and children receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). They include information regarding age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc. Data is also included on Separate State Program (SSP), Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE), active families and closed cases.

This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discusses the challenges of determining the scope of youth homelessness due to the lack of consistent methodology for defining and counting homeless youth. The post illustrates ways that estimates have been attempted and how this research is shared. It also provides links to resources available from the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) to address this issue, including a national hotline.

Recent changes in statutes have required the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to issue a regulation to set standards for data exchange for human service programs including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This Federal Register notice by ACF requests public comments on approaches and tools to meet the statutory requirements and support program objectives most effectively, as well as how to expand the use, sharing, and analysis of data to improve results. Comments are due by January 7, 2019.

Up to 74% of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants report recent experiences of domestic violence, compared to 30% of the general population, according to 2013 data. Survivors are often isolated from family, friends, and financial resources as a result of a perpetrator’s tactics to maximize the survivor’s level of dependency on them and decrease the likelihood that the survivor can gain self-sufficiency.

This Administration for Children and Families (ACF) blog post discusses the “power of work” relative to the nation’s safety net, as well as ACF’s encouragement of state TANF programs to harness this power when striving to improve employment outcomes. ACF’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation is evaluating programs and methods that promote work among TANF recipients and other TANF-eligible populations, while also assessing job search assistance strategies, career pathways, and subsidized/transitional employment initiatives.

The Office of Family Assistance published data tables which cover TANF and SSP-MOE caseloads by state and at a national level from October 2017 through June 2018. The tables are cross-tabbed to include total recipients, total families, total children, one-parent families, two-parent families, no parent families, adults, and monthly caseload data.

The Office of Family Assistance recently released a set of data tables to illustrate the number of TANF applications which were received, approved, or denied monthly for both calendar and fiscal years 2010 through 2018. These tables reflect both state and national data.

The Office of Family Assistance has published a series of success stories from the HPOG program. Each of the dozen stories reflects the first-person narrative of an HPOG participant, drawn from Tribal and non-Tribal HPOG grantees, who has successfully completed the program and has entered into employment in allied health professions.

On October 17, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a joint Information Memorandum (IM) to all ACF programs emphasizing the importance of meaningful father involvement to better serve children and families. In particular, this memorandum highlights research findings that demonstrate the value of fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and families, as well as identifies promising practices to promote and sustain fathers’ engagement, regardless of their physical location or extent of custodial participation.

October, 2018

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Other Resources

OFA Initiatives

These pages feature resources, publications, and tools to provide information on Peer TA initiatives that are sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance.